Pulled that out of my ass, I did. :eek: I was as shocked as you are. 
Yeah, it was too close to call with CSC and they might have won but the fall didn’t slow down the first five riders noticeably. Didn’t seem to phase the guys who damn near rolled over him either. But two seconds… hard to know for sure.
My heart goes out to DZ. Rotten luck that.
I don’t know. Pantani didn’t strike me as a good sport. In 1999 when Lance and Pantani crossed swords in that big climb, didn’t Lance let Marco cross the line first because he respected the man’s effort. Armstrong clearly could have taken the finish line before Pantani? And in return, Pantani began to talk smack about Lance.
So, how about today’s stage? I think we might well see a successful breakaway, because I don’t think Discovery wants to be protecting the yellow all the way to the mountains. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone like Voigt or Dekker pulls of the win and even gets the yellow jersey today.
If that scenario doesn’t work out, it would be nice to see Boonen win again.
Perhaps.
I don’t know if you’ll see a “name” like Voigt or Dekker stay away though. If a break sticks, I’d bet it will be (relative) no-names again and give us something like Voeckler last year. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I thought Voeckler’s run was great last year. I wanted to see him keep the polkadots this year, too.
However, Voigt is aggressive and I do think we’ll see strong riders try to attack Lance this year. Could be a fun one.
I should have checked my updates.
It sounds like Flecha is off the front, and he’s a big name. Dekker tried to bridge, but the pack sounded like they were having none of it. That guy Bodrogi who is bridging was in the break with Voeckler the other day. He’s having a good tour.
Speaking of Flecha, they said on the TV yesterday that Fasso Bortolo is dropping their sponsorship next year.
(I just get my updates from velonews, by the way)
I would not write off Disco’s desire to dominate the tour from here on in. Lance won’t be sprinting across the finish lines this week ('cuz he’s not a sprinter mostly) but he’s going to want to keep that yellow. This being his last time around and all. He won’t risk exhausting himself early but he’ll do his best to hang on to the jersey just the same. He’s a conservative racer and a smart strategist, but I think he’ll be taking some risks this tour.
Like many have speculated… it depends on how aggressive the breakaways are and how hard they’ll need to work to chase them down.
Flecha could make that shit stick.
It’s raining there and conventional wisdom says the break has a better chance of sticking in the slop.
He’s done it before, too.
Just re-read my post. Talk about stating the blindingly obvious.
:rolleyes:
Everybody on three: … 1… 2… 3… “DUHHHH!!!”
:smack:
Well, it looks like the peloton is starting to reel in the breakaway. Also, there was just a crash with Basso, Guerini and McGee involved.
Watching it on German satellite TV at the moment…
Looks like CSC were involved in the crash a few mins ago - their whole team were hanging around waiting for their captain to get back on the road?
Complaints too from the rider censured for head-butting - he’s claiming he was elbowed first, but that the TV cameras only replayed his offence. :rolleyes:
That was because one of the people involved in the crash was Basso, the team leader of CSC. If your team leader drops off the peloton you leave some people to help him catch up, because it’s a lot harder on your own. It’s one of the perks of finishing third the year before.
Compare that to poor Guerini from T-Mobile. He is only there to help Ullrich and Vinokourov in the mountains, so he had to work his way back on his own.
For more examples of what it means to be a team leader look at the post from QuickSilver yesterday about one of the Gerolsteiner riders elbowing Armstrong in the peloton. You can elbow Beltran and Landis, but you do not elbow Armstrong!
Similarly, I was watching on Monday when Dekker was off on a break, stealing the KOM points. Well, Voeckler’s team (bouy-telecom is it?) was chasing hard so that he could retain the polkadots when Lance stopped to take a leak.
Well, no attacking when the patron is peeing, of course, and it killed V’s chances to get the polkadots.
For more interesting tactics, take a close look at how some riders from QuickStep will work to bring Tom Boonen to the front of the peloton just before the sprint finish. Ideally one good sprinter from the team should also lead him until he makes his break. It is lot easier to break of the back wheel of one of your teammates. Even a great sprinter needs his teammates to help him be successful.
Ditto. While at work I follow the Velonews live update, which is pretty entertaining with some of the comments provided. Then it’s home to watch the re-broadcast at 5:30 EST on OLN.
From my favourite tour coverage cite:
What a great story for their grandchildren.
Or site. Whichever… :rolleyes:
If I remember correctly, there was an issue with Armstrong attempting to speak Italian (badly) and Pantani misunderstanding what was being said. Well, according to Armstrong, anyway.
As to subsequent smack-talking, both of them were guilty. The ways of the cycling world, and all like that.
Interesting mini-controversy today involving Lance’s desire NOT to wear the Yellow Jersey. He wanted to make a gesture towards Zabriskie, but the powers that be told Armstrong that he HAD to wear le maillot jaune today, or not be in the race tomorrow.
Rom OLN’s newsflash page
Seems like a classy gesture to me.
Just curious. Do they use any special gearing on their bikes for those Alpine climbs? On the one hand, I would want a bike that had about 40,000 gears on it before I’d try one of those suckers. On the other hand, I’m not a human engine who can consume 9,000 calories a day and burn it all up. Maybe they don’t NEED especially low gears.